So my LO has a Samsung smart TV. There is Wi-Fi in the home and the Samsung TV can be connected. Right now, she is viewing on straight cable. I need to be able to, from a different location, turned her TV off and on; adjust volume, and surf channels.
Logitech had what looked to be promising technology, but they’ve apparently discontinued it.
Any suggestions? I sure do miss radio shack.
Or, search on YouTube for tutorials.
If you are on Nextdoor.com you should make this query in your community and you might get a very detailed answer.
This is your first post from July 2022. Is the situation the same? Mom living in her home and you going out of town, I guess, for your job. And a sister you cannot count on? If your Mom can no longer use a remote, she should no longer be alone at all. You were worried last year because Sister felt you could be charged with elder abuse when u left town. Mom will not get better. You really need to find a place for her. She is now 24/7 care. If you can't be there 24/7, Mom can't afford an aide, then she needs to be placed in Memory care or LTC with Medicaid helping to pay for her care.
I don’t ask questions frequently on here. I have consulted with her doctors and an elder care attorney. It is what it is. She will not be on Medicaid and I’m going to try to help her maintain a sense of ‘independence’ to the degree that she can for as long as I am able.
She’s amazing at so many things. When we hit a snag, I try figure a way around it.
Never do I ever read a request for information made ‘in the moment’ and go back in the person’s history to point out previous questions. If I have helpful information or can echo concerns, I voice that. This disease evolves. Three steps back and 4 forward one day and the reverse the next day. It’s a rollercoaster.
Thank you for your evaluation. It wasn’t helpful for the question asked. Her television remote control skills come and go. I want a contingency plan to assist if I happen to be out of pocket when she’s off the mark a bit.
Do I get frustrated and distraught? You betcha! Damn me for thinking this was a space in which we could express that and get a bit of empathy, compassion and a few helpful suggestions. What works today didn’t work yesterday and might not work tomorrow, but it very well might work next week.
Anyway--to your question: Right now, my mother has a Amazon Fire smart TV running only cable channels from the AL she is in, because she simply can't handle the interface on a smart TV (which would give her access to Netflix etc but she is long past that stage).
But even getting her to use remote was impossible at some point. So....without physically being there, I found no solution to helping her switch channels, etc., other than getting her a big, simple remote from Amazon that I programmed to work with her Fire TV. That way it only has simple channel numbers, and large buttons for volume and off / on (and I marked the on/off button with nail polish. She can manage this, just it tends to suddenly deprogram so I got 3 of them so at least one of them would work until I got in the next day.
The other "solution"--which I hoped would work but does not really unless she is willing to try voice commands--was have her use the voice feature with a Fire TV cube... but she simply couldn't handle it. If you do use Amazon Fire TV cube, she can use voice to turn it off and on, without having to press a button. But I found seniors have as much problem with using voice commands as they do with buttons. Also: You are supposed to be able to switch channels by voice but I never got it to work properly.
Unfortunately, other than getting the TV programmed to work with a simple universal, programmable big button remote (GE has one on Amazon, but I also see there is something called a Flipper with simple up down channel buttons, just my mother gets confused without numbers for channels), I found no solution to help her and switch things remotely.
One more thing that helps me in general though--I gave her an Echo Show device next to her chair and I use the "Drop in" feature where I can drop in without her having to figure out how to answer my call, and I can see her and direct her through things. It is cumbersome but an alternative, if she is able to be talked through things while watching you. The Echo Show drop-in feature has saved me immensely, as she couldn't handle answering video calls (and again, still managed at home many years quiet well).
And no I don't work for Amazon, lol...
And finally yes, this should be a safe space for us to ask questions and not get advice we didn't ask for. No one knows our exact situation or our motivations and it is up to us to take care of ourselves and our loved ones however we think best. You asked a specific question, and you deserve to have that and only that addressed. Best of luck to you... You sound like a caring person.
PS: I just saw on an other post someone recommended subscribing to a service like Hulu or YouTube or Sling with a live stream of channels, installing it on a laptop in her home, then attaching laptop to her TV via HDMI, and then you can run the streaming service remotely with a remote desktop service like Google.
This article discusses potential replacements:
https://www.makeuseof.com/logitech-harmony-hub-replacements/
OH! The Ring cameras I have set up allow me to ‘see’ what I’m doing with the remote.